Claiming Your Spiritual Right to Powerful Prayer | Tony Evans Sermon

many of us have been around pollution or passed by polluted sites that had a stench to them and we had to breathe it and it was very uncomfortable we've often said what is that smell if we weren't sure what it was all we knew was it was very disconcerting very uncomfortable so we quickly desired to pursue good air clean air uncontaminated air so that we could function it's hard to function when the when the air is putrid when it has been contaminated by that which causes a loss of sense Jesus had been talking about the decay and the culture and how that decay was a decay of death it was the smell of rottenness and in the last verse of chapter 17 of the book of luke when the disciples wanted to know when is this return that you're going to make what is this judgment on the culture going to occur he says in the last verse where the body is there also the vultures will be gathered says when you see a corpse that has died and rigor mortis is setting in vultures circle waiting for the demise in order that it might pounce on them and render judgment to the to the decaying or diseased or dead body he talks about vultures circling around this thing called death it is clear that you and I live in an environment in a world that has been contaminated by sin bringing about a smelly way to live a polluted world which leads Jesus to identify a widow a woman to make an astounding principle that I want to leave with you today in this polluted society where death rains and vultures gather he told them a parable he states the premise of the parable upfront he says in verse 1 and all times men ought to pray and not to faint some of your versions read others were other versions read lose heart the idea is quitting throwing in the towel saying I can't take it anymore too faint means to come become weary or discouraged and want to give up as anybody ever fainted you can't take it anymore you don't know how much longer you can endure this because the circumstances hovering around you the vultures that are hovering around you are indicating a situation that is dead or dying and you see absolutely no hope the air is stale in this stale air Jesus says I want to tell you men should always pray and not faint in other words when the air is stale you gotta rise above it to where the clear air is men are always to pray and not to faint that is you know air is stale because you are breathing your nostrils are taking in the sense and you are breathing regularly so you are smelling stale air regularly in terms of when you're in a putrid environment because you're breathing it and so there's no way to get away from it because you're always breathing he says men are to always pray and not faint in other words prayer is to be like breathing the only time when you are conscious about breathing is when it's hard to do it we breathe all the time but don't think about it until there's a problem if there is an asthma problem or an allergy problem or some problem that creates the need for additional oxygen breathing now becomes a conscious activity because it's being interfered with he says men ought to always pray and not faint mid are to always be in communication with God because your ongoing breathing in prayer will keep you in good air even though you may be living in a bad atmosphere where the vultures are circling there are people here together today where the vultures are circling around your life and ready to pounce on your situation because death has set in things don't look like they will ever get better things don't look like they will ever change things don't look like they will ever work out for you and all you see are things going downhill and the vultures circling ready to pounce on you and do you in coming off of that Jesus says to his disciples men are to always maintain contact with God like Bree it should be so normal that you're doing it even when not conscious you're doing it because it's a orientation not just a position prayer is not just getting on your knees it's not just clasping your hands it's not just closing your eyes it's not even just mouthing words prayer is an atmosphere of operating you are operating in connectivity with God or as the word we've looked at this Wednesday last Wednesday abiding this is your this is the air I breathe the song says I am in constant contact with God which means that you are praying more than you know you're praying so sometimes we're praying and we're praying and we identify the formal times but there ought to be informal time because if prayer is an atmosphere if it's a breathing then that means you're in contact with God as a normal way of functioning not just as a scheduled activity that you do if there's this orientation he wants men to always pray and not think that's his thesis his major point where God is interfaced with as a way of life not as a not simply as a schedule they ought to be that the time in your closet a scheduled program that leads him to a story that he wants to tell about this that is extraordinary and most of us have read the story many times but perhaps there is something in here that you may never have seen before yet I believe it is the it is the epicenter of the point of the parable and will totally change your life my life if we grasp it in a certain city we're told there is a judge who does not fear God nor men in other words he doesn't care what God thinks and he doesn't care what people say because he is the judge during biblical times it was a lot like Western times when there would be the circuit judges and the and the Western towns would wait for the judges to come to hold trials and the judges would go from town to town to town and they would hold the criminals and that's in the in the town jail until the judge came to render a verdict so they were circuit judges and so these judges would go from town to town to town to mitigate cases relative to issues that had popped up in the town so there is this judge but we told something about the judge that the judge is an unrighteous judge in other words he does not operate legally he does not operate according to the rules he makes up the rules as he goes and he doesn't care what God thinks or what rules men have passed he's going to do his own thing judges like this were easy for bribes the wealthy could always be set free because the wealthy could buy their way out of their problems and since he wasn't righteous he could easily be bribed so we're told that there is this judge he's going to render judgment but he's not going to do it righteously so that's the man and he doesn't care what God thinks he doesn't care what man says there is also a widow in the story is a woman she's been married most likely their children we don't know that for sure but we know that her husband has died now when Jesus tells the story he picks the weakest scenario he can pick because in the Bible the lowest of the low are the orphans and the widows from Genesis to Revelation when God wants to make a point about the lowest of the low he will pick orphans and widows this widow had a number of problems based on biblical history first of all there was little protection for women women were not viewed as high as valuable as they were created to be and that was the the norm of the culture not only that but she has no husband so there's nobody to stand in for her she must stand on her own in addition to that widows in the Bible are normally postured as being poor without financial resources because there's no husband providing so she's out on her own in addition to that the fact that she has to plead her own case means she has nobody in her circle of influence who can stand up for her she must stand up for herself so here we have a woman out there by herself on her own trying to make it now the situation is that there is something or something has happened in which she has been wronged something has happened that needs to be addressed legally something has gone wrong perhaps it had to do with money perhaps she was ripped out of some of her husband's estate we don't know what the specific issue is nor do we need to know his point was that this widow needed legal intervention say legal intervention she needed the law to work for her she needed the law to mitigate between her and some situations she faced that could only be addressed legally so there is this Widow in the city who keeps coming to the judge saying give me legal protection from my opponent I have got somebody in my sphere who's working against me and who is opposing me and he's doing it illegitimate Lee there is somebody in my life doing me wrong my opponent and I don't have the power to stop them I'm a widow I don't have a lot of money and they're coming up against me and I need the law to work for me I wonder if there's anybody here who's in a situation that's coming up against you and the folk was supposed to be able to help you unavailable to you she goes to the judge because she says she needs here it is legal protection I can't protect myself I need the law to protect me judge will you intervene on my behalf so that I can get my opponent off of my back and get justice in my situation verse 4 says for a while the judge was unwilling the judge says I don't want to be bothered I don't want to be bothered with the widow I don't want to be bothered with your problem I don't want to be bothered about your opponent I don't want to be bothered I don't care about your situation because I don't even care about God and I don't care about people and you're the lowest of the people a widow so I really don't care about you so for a while it says he was unwilling to hear her case although she had a legitimate case stick with me here it says but afterwards he said to himself self even though I do not fear God pagan judge and I do not respect man yet because this Widow bothers me that means is nagging me after all she's a woman let's give the benediction this woman the judge is a man this woman is getting on my nerves thus we say she is driving me nuts he says I don't respect God I don't respect man I will give her legal protections a legal protection according to verse 3 she was thinking legal protection say legal protection can't keep that in mind I'm going somewhere even though I don't feel God I don't feel man otherwise if I don't do something about this lady's problem she's gonna keep coming to me cuz she won't let me go every time I show up she shows up every time I have another persons case she brings up her case this woman won't let me go she won't get off my back and if she keeps coming what's this she will wear me out anybody ever been worn out my woman I hope you sitting by yourself mister brother just raise his hand like that he says this woman is going to wear me out the Greek word wear me out literally is rendered give me a black eye give me a black eye the issue was not that she was going to punch him out to give a black eye meant to ruin my reputation to give a black eye means to ruin the person's reputation if this woman keeps coming she is going to ruin my name so this is what the woman was doing in order to ruin his name that meant she would have to be telling other people about the unjust judge because they ruin somebody's reputation you're ruining their reputation among others so evidently this woman would show about a court scene and say this judge is not right he ain't right I've been having a problem and he won't get my problem he's not right she said he knows he's not right he's an unrighteous judge he doesn't care about God nor man he doesn't want everybody to know he's not right he just won't he - no he's not right and if this woman keeps coming it's gonna be clear to everybody I'm not right and I don't want to look not right to everybody so to get this woman off my back to get home Adam my grill to get her off of me what I am going to do is I am going to give her legal protection say legal protection I am going to address her situation so that I can get her off my back so that I can save my reputation let me say that again man I'm going to get her off my back so that I can save my reputation I need to say that one more time i'ma give her legal protection not because I want to give a little rejection not because I care about this woman I want off my back I want to protect my reputation so therefore I'm going to intervene in her circumstances now that's the parable that's the point now Jesus wants to apply it why are you telling us this Jesus in this place of bad air where the vultures are circling we're to maintain constant contact with with with God and you tell us the story about a judge and a widow woman what's the point and the Lord said verse 6 hear what the unrighteous judge said in other words pay attention to the unrighteous judge now the widow is critical to the story but to get the part of the story pay attention Jesus said to what the unrighteous judge says I don't fear God I don't fear men but this woman is driving me crazy and she's going to ruin my reputation pay attention to that Jesus says and then make a contrast here's the contrast verse 7 now will not God bring about justice for his elect who cry out to him day and night and will he delay over them long Jesus says this listen to what the unrighteous judge said cause he says if you if you miss what the unrighteous judge says you'll miss the whole point he says an unrighteous man who didn't care about God he didn't care about people he didn't care about legalities he didn't care about justice he cared about his reputation he cared about his name and not being a nag to death by this woman he was out to protect his name and in order to protect his name he had to respond to this woman because this woman was giving him a black eye messing up his name his reputation he had to do something because as bad as he was he cared about his reputation he says not if a wicked judge cares about his reputation and he wrong but he still cares about his reputation will not God who's not an unrighteous judge he's a righteous judge will not God verse 7 bring about justice bring about justice for his elect the widow was a stranger to the judge the elect are not strangers to God the elect are God's chosen ones they're God's children you and I who belong to Jesus Christ make up God's elect if an unrighteous judge who doesn't care about God nor men will bring legal protection to a stranger to protect his reputation much more will God bring about justice to his children his alack says he is the righteous judge and does care about justice and will he delay long over them now what I want to draw your attention to is afraid that I've been asking you to repeat legal protection see it's easy to read the story and twice in the story the word legal protection is raised twice and its cousin is raised in verse 7 justice she was seeking justice through the legal protection of the law but it's put another way the issue for the widow was not whether the judge like me it was not whether the judge knew me it was not whether the judge felt sorry for me the issue on the table was the law I need you to bring the law to bear on my situation because I'm being unjustly treated by my opponent I need legal intervention may not always pray and not faint but what gets God's attention is not simply in feeling sorry about you in the situation you're in it's not merely I'm seeing you cry it's not merely him seeing you're depressed what brings heaven down to earth in the vulture a situation you may be facing is calling down your legal right the issue was your legal right see what the woman had she did not have the judge on her side she had the law on her side and even though the judge didn't care about the woman she kept bringing up but the law says and when she brought up the legal thing he had to deal with that comes for him not to address the law wants to kill his reputation because the judge was obligated to the law now let me explain what I'm trying to say here today what I'm trying to say here is that God who cares about us we're part of the elect who's righteous has concerned about his law that is God has obligated himself to his own word God has obligated himself to what God has said himself God is tethered to his own law God can't do what the unrighteous judge was trying to do because God by nature is righteousness righteousness is the divine standard so God is tethered to his own standard so God is always going to operate in concert with his own law now the woman calls for legal protection watch this now because she knew she had the right to it in other words let me put it another way if she didn't know what the law was if she didn't know that the law they were rules in the law book to deal with the situations he was facing she wouldn't have been able to call on the law cuz she wouldn't have know the law applied it was her knowledge that there is a righteous law in the book that deals with my opponent situation and I'm going to the authorized person the judge to render the law on my behalf that took her to nagging the judge she can nag the judge even though the judge didn't care about her coz she knew what was written that was in the law book that applied to her situation not to know what was written is not to have a basis to appeal to the judge cuz remember it says she wanted legal protection she wanted something that would come from the law to act on her behalf hold your finger here turn back a couple of pages to Luke chapter 13 in Luke chapter 13 it's the Sabbath the Sabbath was the law was one of the Ten Commandments Jesus a certain woman verse 11 for 18 years had a sickness caused by a spirit and she had been bent double bent over and could not straighten up and Jesus saw her he called her over and said to her woman you are freed from your sickness he heals her on the Sabbath and he laid his hands on her and immediately she was made a wreck again and began glorifying God but the synagogue officials indignant because Jesus had healed her on the Sabbath began saying to the crowd in response there are six days in which work should be done so come during them and get healed and not on the Sabbath so they're saying Jesus you're out of order for healing this lady on the Sabbath Jesus then says to them you hypocrites does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox and his donkey from the stall and lead him to get water and this woman was this and this woman here it is and this woman a daughter of Abraham not just this woman I want to tell you who this woman is she is a daughter of Abraham who Satan is bound for eighteen long years should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day watches now you hypocrites you will release an ox on the Sabbath from being tied up so he can get some water I come to release a woman who's been tied up for 18 years on the Sabbath you're upset about me releasing a woman when you're not upset about you releasing a donkey let me tell you Jesus says why I release this woman I release this woman because this woman he says is a daughter of Abraham watch this now the Sabbath was the law given under Moses Abraham precedes Moses he says there is a legal relationship I have to this daughter because there was a covenant made with Abraham by God that God would bring healing to his people in covenant with an Abrahamic agreement when the problem came from a spiritual source weird that the woman was bent over but her medical condition watches now was tied to a spiritual condition it said Satan had so messed up her life that is showed up physically and she had to walk been over it wasn't just because of her age it wasn't just because of calcification in the back it was because the devil had so intervened in her life that her physical problem was tied to a spiritual dilemma but the lady had something that's a chief priests didn't understand she had a legal relationship Todd as a daughter of Abraham and because of the legal relationship it overrode the Mosaic law that says you can't do this on the Sabbath but if you don't know your legal relationship then you can't call on your legal relationship to deliver you from of some of us happening problems situations circumstances and messes for 18 years and we wonder why God hasn't come through yet because we have not yet appealed to our legal right but why haven't we appealed to our legal right we don't know our legal right and if you don't know the law you can't appeal to the law the widow knew the law and says because the law is in place I am going to bring the law to bear if an unrighteous judge will submit to the law even though he doesn't that regard for God and regard for man how much more will a righteous God who is committed to the law appeal to the legal cause of his people we get and we pray but what we don't do is pray legally in other words we don't make God have to appeal to his own law we come with generalities and vague things that have nothing to do with nothing bless my day bless my family that's my food that's my situation bless me as I Drive that's me as I ride those are cute cute sees he says when you've been jacked up for 18 years when life has just messed you up when you like the widow and you have no place to turn you need to know you're right everybody in here is an American citizen you need to know your rights if somebody wants to search your house and doesn't have a court-ordered right to come in there you need to know your rights you need to know your rights that you have a right to a lawyer if you are are arrested you need to know your right cuz if you don't know your right and a policeman arrests you who doesn't fear God and doesn't fear man he could jack you up if you don't know your right but when you know you're right then you can call with authority on that which you deserve because of your legal status he says men ought to pray but not in some vague way the best way to pray is to call God to have to respond to his own word to call God to have to respond to his own truth God and see the best way to pray is God here let me show you God this is what you said you said this let me read it to you God you said this case you forgot God you said this I don't know if you read it lately God but you said this you wrote this so I'm talking to you about what you said you say well what difference will that make he tells you at the last verse verse 8 I tell you that he will bring about justice for them quickly however when the Son of Man comes will he find faith on the earth he says some of us have been waiting a lot longer than we should be waiting some of us have been struggling a lot longer than we should be struggling why because we'll talk to God about stuff but we will not call on God in terms of his law in terms of what he has written and God is committed first and foremost not to your feelings not to your circumstance his first and foremost committed to his rules his regulations his guidelines and his law that's why I love the suit the woman came and she verbally publicly rendered out what the judge was supposed to be doing because he's concerned about his reputation so she is why watch this now watch his word decree what should be done what is mark eleven say he says if you will say to this mountain a mountain in the Bible is an impossible situation to climb over that's what a mountain means it's a circumstance you can't get over it's a hump you can / it's a situation you can't fix it's a problem you can't solve it's a situation that you can't change that's a mountain he says if you will say to this mountain speak it see decree your deliverance but before he said speak it a couple of verses before then he says is it not written so before he says because you'll just go up to situations say go bye-bye gone disappear hocus pocus no huh it says before is it not written and when Jesus says is it not written then he comes and says you can speak to this mountain so here's what you're supposed to do you're supposed to look at your situation look at your opponent look at your mountain look at your bed over situation then find out what God says about your situation says about your mountain says about your bent over situation then you're supposed to speak to your Mountain speak to your situation speak to your scenario and tell the situation what God said tell the person what God said speak to it in the name of the law and will not God move swiftly verse eight says won't he show up quick won't he come out of nowhere won't he show up in a way you never expected if he can get you to function legally with him to function based on his revelation not just based on how you feel not just based on the fact his head not just based on the fact that you know I've been in this a long time you could be in there for another 18 years unless you remember you're a daughter of Abraham and that you have legal rights to be picked up when the devil has bent you over he says men are always pray like this men are always talk to God like this and he says and when you relate to God like this you will see him move swiftly that means swiftly means all of a sudden swiftly means out of nowhere truthfully mean where did that come from that's what swiftly means for the Bible says in Isaiah 46 that God will establish his purposes the Bible says in job chapter 22 verse 28 decree what God is to do and so that God can get it done so you ought to speak to your situation but in the name of God by your words you ought to speak his words into the situation cuz God is not bound to what you think he's not bound to what other folks think he's not bound to how you feel he's not bound however folk feel he's not bound to what you've been raised to believe or what other people think you ought to believe he's not bound to your mama he's not bound to your daddy he's not bound to your friends he's not bound to your coworker he's not bound to your supervisor he's not bound to your neighbor he's not bound to your governor he's not bound to your president he's bound to his own words and that's the only thing that he will commit himself to somebody ought to be willing to pray now somebody ought to be willing to call on him now day and night night and day you ought to get up and say that's what you said you ought to go to bed and say that's what you said I'm holding you to what you said and he said that he can see that you're appealing to his law day and night I know where you will see divine intervention let's stand

Channel: Tony Evans

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Id: dHwS3V002qk

Length: 40min 21sec (2421 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 06 2015